This week, we start a series aimed at educating business about their legal responsibilities regarding protecting consumers’ private information. First, some background: According to the Federal Trade Commission (the government organization charged with consumer protection), an estimated nine million Americans have their identities stolen each year. Identity thieves may drain accounts, damage credit, and even…
In a recent press release from the FTC, it seems scam artists have perhaps hit a new low. In the latest lure to trick people into clicking on links that will download malware to their computers, scammers are sending bogus emails with the subject line “funeral notification.” The message appears to be from a legitimate…
Perhaps even more frequently than every day, it seems like there is a new scam hatching. Here’s a new one we learned about from a fellow member of the NYS CPA Society. In a recent message board post, Mr. Mendlowitz warned to be on the lookout for ‘One Ring’ cell phone scams. It’s called the…
On-site shredding service is our main gig but those who follow this blog know we like to use this space to share public service announcements as well. There are few topics more important than protecting our children. The FTC has just released a its latest update on a great resource for helping to protect our…
HV Shred is all about helping our community protect private information. Last week, we covered the basic overview of app safety. More specifically this week, we cover location data. Some apps use specific location data to share maps, coupons for nearby stores, or information about who we might know nearby. Some provide location data to ad…
As always, HV Shred aims to provide valuable guidance to our community on how to protect confidential data. These days, we use apps for everything from banking to listening to music to finding the best restaurant for lunch. One thing we must consider in the process is the data we are sharing–even broadcasting as we…
HV Shred is always focused on best practices for identity theft protection. As a reminder from a recent blog, January 13th-17th is Tax Identity Theft Awareness Week led by the Federal Trade Commission–the government division tasked with protecting American consumers. Tax identity theft happens when someone uses your Social Security number to get a tax…
Happy 2014! We thank all who supported us through 2013 and are excited to share the news that together we recycled nearly 600 tons of confidential paperwork. In 2013, HV Shred clients helped save: over 10,000 trees over 4 million gallons of water over 250,000 gallons of oil over 1800 cubic yards of landfill space…
With all the talk about the new healthcare law and, hopefully, the millions of people who will now have health coverage who didn’t before, it seems like a good time to remind healthcare providers and patients about the laws regarding “Protected Health Information (PHI)”. The laws regulating the secure storage and disposal of PHI are…
Borrowing again from the FTC’s valuable resources, this information is key for any potential victim of the recent breach at Target Stores. By its own admission, Target announced that any credit or debit card used in a Target store in the U.S. between November 27 and December 15 may have been compromised. According to the…